The Mariology of
St. Maximilian M. Kolbe

by Fr. James McCurry, O.F.M. Conv.

When Pope John II canonized the Conventual Franciscan Friar-Priest-Martyr Maximilian Kolbe on 10 October 1982, the Gospel chosen for the liturgy was John 15:12-17. "There is no greater love than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends" (15:13) would seem an appropriate text for celebrating the memory of the Auschwitz inmate who volunteered to die of starvation in place of a condemned fellow prisoner. While Kolbe's witness of "no greater love" might inspire general interest and veneration among diverse peoples today, it need not however hold particular interest for theologians. The decision of this mariological body to include St. Maximilian on the program of its 1985 convention be-speaks a growing realization among theologians that the "key" to the "no greater love" in Kolbe might well lie in his theological and more specifically, his mariological insights.